3.13.2017

A Third Installment of my Video Project from Canada. David's Story.

I'm not sure there's ever a point at which video producers feel their editing is done. I could wake up every morning and change something on every video I've ever done. There are two things that bring projects to completion. One is budget; but if you enjoy a project budgets prove to be weak firewalls against spending more time fine tuning, or trying different approaches.

The other thing that serves as a giant stop sign in the editing process is a deadline. Hitting the deadline nearly always trumps one more set of tweaks.

As in the previous videos we used a Sony A7Rii, shooting in 4K (APS-C) mode to record the main interview footage and used a Sony RX10iii in 1080p mode to shoot our b-roll "footage."

The word, "footage" sounds a little zany to me given that there are no longer linear feet of film dragging through a film gate. We may have to revise our language around motion pictures as we head toward the future....

Everything that was lit was lit with Aputure LightStorm LED panels. Our primary microphone (into the Sony A7Rii) was a Sennheiser MKE600. We were working in the middle of an ongoing business and we could not always control background sounds but we did the best we could.

The main target for these videos is our client's website. They were not shot with theatrical distribution in mind and, in all likelihood, they will never be broadcast. The switch between black and white and color (which I also like) is part of the client's style guide.

I like David's interview because it was so personal and honest. This was a very rewarding project that put me in touch with some wonderful people. People with great stories about overcoming trauma and setbacks.

Kirk - another great one. The lighting plus setting of the solo sequence was the best of the interviews for me, seemed to be more low-key than the others. Great to see how good the shot was with your makeshift dolly, really well done. Brilliant touch to include the baby. Thanks for these.

Terrific. I really like the editing and the cuts. Sound is great too. Editing is one of those things where at some point you just have to walk away and let it live its own life. I write, poetry mostly, and I struggle with when to stop editing my work. I'm a pretty harsh editor of my own work. Usually, I will edit to the point where I feel a particular piece can live and breathe on its own, have its own life. At that point I am happy to send it off into the world, but I do have to force myself to walk away from it and let it be, otherwise the editing would never end...a week, a month, a year etc. It would be an endless process and a counter-productive one. Knowing when to let go is important. I'm speaking about personal work. For professional work those parameters would be determined by budget and timelines. Maybe having those parameters is a good thing.

The interview sound really holds this one together. Was it shot in a single take or also edited together? I couldn't hear any breaks. And did you stop to shoot stills specially, or simply use single frames from the video take?

Sorry to hear that video hurts readership. If you spend more time sharing tips (such as the pointer to the microphone video-blogger) it can't hurt. I wonder if there is a population that has pretty much mastered their mirrorless still cameras, is noticing that video adds a lot to the capture of events, and wants to exploit this capability with the gear that is already in their hands. The path to the first non-embarassing personal video production is pretty steep, and since cameras differ a lot in operational details, meta-directions could be helpful -- like an outline of the problems you have to solve before taking everyone's time. How are you doing at integrating your new Panasonic camera?